Posted By Terry Frei On March 17, 2013 @ 11:13 pm In College Basketball,Colorado State University,Mountain West Conference | 2 Comments

FORT COLLINS — My commentary/column from the CSU selection show watch party will be in the Monday paper and online.

I didn’t get into criticizing or questioning the selection committee’s assigning the Rams “only” a No. 8 seed, which left them matched up with No. 9 Missouri on Thursday night in Lexington.

I didn’t criticize or question it for two reasons.

One, it’s about right. The Rams were No. 30 in the overall seeding, and I don’t hear anyone screaming about them being ranked “only” 29th in the latest Associated Press and coaches’ polls — which is what they’d be if you projected out the “others receiving votes” figures. You can argue that the selection committee’s assessment is supposed to be more about a season-long body of work than are the polls, but I’m sorry, placing the Rams in the No. 30 slot now after their slight hiccups down the stretch — albeit with Dorian Green’s ankle injury coming into play — is eminently defensible. (And the committee showed that, for better or worse, it was more willing than ever to consider RPI, SOS and, I’m pretty sure, WAR.)

Two, so what? Moving “up” slightly, to a 6 or 7, might draw them a marginally “easier” opponent in the first game and then certainly in the second, if they advance, but, hey, if you’re in, you’re in. Win six games and you’re the champion. Anything else is a debate over how many orange slices you get.

I’ve been on board the CSU bandwagon, perhaps even to excess because I so much like this team, its character and the way it plays.

The Rams themselves might use the perceived (very slight) slight as another bit of motivation and some of their fans might be bothered, but I hope it doesn’t become a big deal because the “no respect” angle gets tiresome and so often seems contrived. And in this case, the selection committee wasn’t out of line.